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Good deeds by folks next door
By Xu Wenwen |
November 24, 2009, Tuesday
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"SMALL Potato, Great Touch" is a campaign recognizing the "small potatoes" who do small and large acts of kindness in Nanxing neighborhood. It's about being a good neighbor with a warm heart. Xu Wenwen reports.
Everyday heroes, the small potatoes who touch the lives of others in a big way, are being honored in Nanxing residential district with a campaign called "Touching Life, Touching Nanxing."
The slogan is "Small Potato, Great Touch."
Sixteen ordinary people have been identified as model neighbors and residents will vote for "best neighbor" in the district in southern Hangzhou.
The idea, however, is not to reward but to spread the spirit of good neighborliness and helping others.
Here's a look at four ordinary heroes: a tide watcher who warns of dangerous Qiantang River tides, a retired doctor who still sees patients, a woman who knits caps for the elderly and prepares bodies for funerals, and a poor man who scrimps and saves so he can donate to others.
Tide caller
The Qiantang River, which flows into Hangzhou Bay, has the world's biggest tidal bore, a huge tide that can be dangerous to people and vessels.
Although there are other warning systems, Zheng Xinquan, 78, is the first volunteer with a megaphone to "call the tide" on the river and warn people to get out of the way.
Watching the tide rush in a favorite time, especially when the moon is full during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Over the years, Zheng has saved hundreds of people's lives from tides that come and go at different times every day.
In the 1980s, Zheng saved 13 vessels by announcing the tide at midnight.
He organized a volunteer team in his residential area to call the tide along with him, since so many people like to watch the tide on the long bank but often ignore their own safety.
Zheng used to be a ship's helmsman and has been studying the Qiantang tides since the 1950s.
Every day for 30 years he has recorded tidal data and his notebooks are stacked half a meter high. Some people suggest he publish his records as a book, but Zheng says he will donate them to a maritime institute.
Free doctor
Since internist Dr Qiu Yuanchang retired in 2000, he has been seeing patients for free three days a week in the residential district service center. Mostly he takes blood pressure, gives primary diagnoses and administers acupuncture.
"I do this to delay senility," Qiu jokes, "and helping others is a happy thing, and it's necessary."
He estimates that he has seen more than 10,000 patients in nine years. Many with high blood pressure and diabetes get advice on diet and exercise. Sometimes he has been the first to spot conditions that require hospitalization, thus saving lives.
For half a year he treated a patient who could not move from his bed because one side was seriously weakened. He used traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Now the man can walk again.
Aide to seniors
All year long, Zhang Fengzhen knits woolen caps for her neighbors, especially those in a home for the elderly.
Almost every senior wears her winter hats and everyone calls her "Sister Zhang."
Zhang belongs to the district funeral committee. Many people are superstitious about funerals and death; they avoid the subject or pretend it doesn't exist.
But whenever there is a death, Zhang goes to the home, washes the body, changes clothes and arranges for funerals, without charging for her services.
Low-income donor
Every month, Jiang Jinquan, who is disabled, lives on a 430-yuan (US$63) basic living allowances and 50-yuan subsidy from the Hangzhou Federation for Disabled Persons.
Nevertheless, Jiang is determined to donate money to those less fortunate.
He made his first donation in 2004, when he read a news item about a couple in Anhui Province trying to raise money for a liver transplant for their eight-year-old daughter. He donated 1,000 yuan to them the next day.
Since then, he has kept on giving. He saves his money, lives simply, seldom eats meat and picks up vegetable leaves in the market. He only turns his TV set on to watch the news and only uses his fridge in summer to save electricity.
After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, he again donated 2,000 yuan, saved for a couple of years.
"My life's good," he says. "My neighbors collect their scraps so I can sell them to the recycling station. I want to use my money to help others."
Nanxing district is only a small part of Hangzhou and its 16 heroes are only a tiny part of the population, but good deeds are powerful.
A young person on a BBS observed: "I've never considered that so many great people are living around me. They may be ordinary, but they are real. Though we young people are always proud, we should learn from them and be more modest."
Everyday heroes, the small potatoes who touch the lives of others in a big way, are being honored in Nanxing residential district with a campaign called "Touching Life, Touching Nanxing."
The slogan is "Small Potato, Great Touch."
Sixteen ordinary people have been identified as model neighbors and residents will vote for "best neighbor" in the district in southern Hangzhou.
The idea, however, is not to reward but to spread the spirit of good neighborliness and helping others.
Here's a look at four ordinary heroes: a tide watcher who warns of dangerous Qiantang River tides, a retired doctor who still sees patients, a woman who knits caps for the elderly and prepares bodies for funerals, and a poor man who scrimps and saves so he can donate to others.
Tide caller
The Qiantang River, which flows into Hangzhou Bay, has the world's biggest tidal bore, a huge tide that can be dangerous to people and vessels.
Although there are other warning systems, Zheng Xinquan, 78, is the first volunteer with a megaphone to "call the tide" on the river and warn people to get out of the way.
Watching the tide rush in a favorite time, especially when the moon is full during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Over the years, Zheng has saved hundreds of people's lives from tides that come and go at different times every day.
In the 1980s, Zheng saved 13 vessels by announcing the tide at midnight.
He organized a volunteer team in his residential area to call the tide along with him, since so many people like to watch the tide on the long bank but often ignore their own safety.
Zheng used to be a ship's helmsman and has been studying the Qiantang tides since the 1950s.
Every day for 30 years he has recorded tidal data and his notebooks are stacked half a meter high. Some people suggest he publish his records as a book, but Zheng says he will donate them to a maritime institute.
Free doctor
Since internist Dr Qiu Yuanchang retired in 2000, he has been seeing patients for free three days a week in the residential district service center. Mostly he takes blood pressure, gives primary diagnoses and administers acupuncture.
"I do this to delay senility," Qiu jokes, "and helping others is a happy thing, and it's necessary."
He estimates that he has seen more than 10,000 patients in nine years. Many with high blood pressure and diabetes get advice on diet and exercise. Sometimes he has been the first to spot conditions that require hospitalization, thus saving lives.
For half a year he treated a patient who could not move from his bed because one side was seriously weakened. He used traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Now the man can walk again.
Aide to seniors
All year long, Zhang Fengzhen knits woolen caps for her neighbors, especially those in a home for the elderly.
Almost every senior wears her winter hats and everyone calls her "Sister Zhang."
Zhang belongs to the district funeral committee. Many people are superstitious about funerals and death; they avoid the subject or pretend it doesn't exist.
But whenever there is a death, Zhang goes to the home, washes the body, changes clothes and arranges for funerals, without charging for her services.
Low-income donor
Every month, Jiang Jinquan, who is disabled, lives on a 430-yuan (US$63) basic living allowances and 50-yuan subsidy from the Hangzhou Federation for Disabled Persons.
Nevertheless, Jiang is determined to donate money to those less fortunate.
He made his first donation in 2004, when he read a news item about a couple in Anhui Province trying to raise money for a liver transplant for their eight-year-old daughter. He donated 1,000 yuan to them the next day.
Since then, he has kept on giving. He saves his money, lives simply, seldom eats meat and picks up vegetable leaves in the market. He only turns his TV set on to watch the news and only uses his fridge in summer to save electricity.
After the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, he again donated 2,000 yuan, saved for a couple of years.
"My life's good," he says. "My neighbors collect their scraps so I can sell them to the recycling station. I want to use my money to help others."
Nanxing district is only a small part of Hangzhou and its 16 heroes are only a tiny part of the population, but good deeds are powerful.
A young person on a BBS observed: "I've never considered that so many great people are living around me. They may be ordinary, but they are real. Though we young people are always proud, we should learn from them and be more modest."
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